Washington, DC (November 16, 2022) The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), the leading nonprofit medical society representing invasive and interventional cardiology, today applauded the American Medical Association's (AMA) House of Delegates for passing a resolution addressing regional Emergency Cardiac Care (ECC) hospital designation. Hospitals that are ECC Centers have expertise in the treatment of the three major cardiac emergencies, ST Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI), STEMI with Cardiogenic Shock (STEMI-CS) and Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA). Introduced by SCAI, AMA Resolution 911 calls for regional or national guidelines standardizing prehospital and inpatient care for cardiac emergencies. Hospitals will be designated based on their ability to provide ECC analogous to the Stroke or Trauma systems of care. 

"The lack of standardized care for STEMI, STEMI-CS, and OHCA patients is causing thousands of preventable deaths every year. This resolution provides policymakers with a roadmap to implement policies that will save lives and reduce disparities in care delivery," said SCAI AMA Delegate and Past President J. Jeff Marshall, MD, MSCAI.   

Cardiac disease is the number one killer for women and men in the United States, and OHCA ranks as the third most common cause of death according to the Institute of Medicine. The data shows that when ECC Centers include uniquely applied invasive procedures, survival rates for patients experiencing an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest or refractory ventricular fibrillation improve from less than 10% to over 40%, and that disparities in care are diminished. Despite this improvement in survivability, many states and regions do not have policies standardizing care.  

"The science is clear that standardizing care at the state and local level improves survival rates for many patients," said Edward Touhy, MD, FSCAI, SCAI AMA alternate delegate. "This resolution is a step in the right direction, but we have more to do. SCAI will continue working with the AMA and entire cardiovascular community to advance ECC-focused policies at the state and local levels to afford every American cardiac care rooted in scientific research that will save lives."  

“Cardiac disease and other risk factors, including high blood pressure, are more prevalent in Black, Hispanic, and Asian patients than their white counterparts, leading to greater risk of cardiac arrest for these demographics. Compounding the greater likelihood of incidence is that these demographics also have lower survival rates than White patients when experiencing cardiac emergencies. Standardizing care is an important policy initiative to address these disparities,” added Dr. Marshall. 

About SCAI

The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) is a non-profit professional association with over 4,500 members representing interventional cardiologists and cardiac catheterization teams in the United States. SCAI promotes excellence in interventional cardiovascular medicine for both adults and children through education, representation, and the advancement of quality standards to enhance patient care.